The Swell of Violins
by StelenaIsMySunshine
Summary: Everyone is falling apart in the wake of losing Hope. Meanwhile, Rebekah takes the baby to a familiar place... A post-S1 perspective, with some TVD crossovers included. Endgame pairings are: Klaus/Hayley, Matt/Rebekah and Elijah/OC.


**The Swell of Violins**

**I**** finally**** got to watch the season finale of TO last night and I was so incredibly affected by it. I kid you not – I cried for hours and hours after the credits rolled. I know there are many fics on the site about what we'd like to see in S2 but I just feel compelled to share my version of things. Please let me know if you like this story. And yes, my other fictions will be updated very soon. I do hate when someone starts a fic and never finishes it so I won't do the same things to you, my beloved readers!**

_**Pairings-**_  
Klaus/Hayley  
Matt/Rebekah  
Elijah/OC

**Chapter 1**

**New Orleans**

Elijah Mikaelson sat in the parlor at the compound, _waiting._ He always seemed to be waiting these days - just biding his time really. He didn't sleep anymore. (While vampires didn't need to do so, it was something that always been a welcome respite for him - the chance to relax, _unwind_ and occasionally even dream.) Meanwhile, his sweet Hayley slept far too much these days. He knew that she was down the hall, still in bed, blinds drawn tightly shut, shunning the whole world. Though he brought her bags of blood every few hours, setting them outside her door, they generally went untouched. He had tried every way he knew of to reach her and he couldn't. He was giving up hope.

"_Hope,"_ he murmured. The name Klaus had given his niece. Elijah ached deeply but he knew that his pain was infinitesimal compared to that of Hope's parents. They were both grieving in their own ways. While Hayley never left the compound anymore, Klaus had not returned to it - save for one time weeks before to let them know that Rebekah had spirited the baby away to parts unknown.

_Hayley sat in the rocking chair in the nursery. Her tears had stopped sometime ago but she was far too quiet now for Elijah's liking. She had resisted every overture of comfort that he had tried to offer her. He longed to reach out to her, to pull her into his arms and hold her, but he resisted. He remained standing in the doorway, watching as the woman he loved above all others, faded away before his very eyes._

_Familiar footsteps creaked on the staircase. He turned to see Niklaus striding towards him. Elijah saw the look in his brother's eyes. There was pain in the crystalline depths, but also feral desperation. He wanted to escape from himself, from this place, and Elijah knew that he would slip away, for a time at least. Elijah could only pray that it wasn't too long of a time._

_Klaus was needed._

"_How is she?" Klaus immediately asked._

"_Broken," Elijah said. Just like he had been when he believed Hayley to be gone forever. "Disappearing inside of herself as we speak."_

_Klaus simply pushed past Elijah and strode to Hayley. She had a decidedly blank look in her eyes as he crouched before her. "Hayley, luv. Look at me. Even if it hurts."_

"_Is she gone now?" Hayley asked._

"_Yes. My sister has her."_

"_Can she protect our daughter?"_

_"Rebekah will protect our daughter with her very life," Klaus said. "Hope shall never come to harm under Bekah's watchful eye."_

"_Wait… Hope? You named her Hope?"_

_"If you don't like it-"_

"_No, I do," Hayley said. "Sweet little Hope. She was – is__– so beautiful."_

_Klaus nodded. "She is perfection personified. An angel in the tiniest body… We will get her back someday, Hayley, I promise. Maybe not tomorrow but-"_

_Hayley nodded absently. "Yes, I am sure you're right." Then she took to rocking back and forth as she clutched a little plush toy to her empty womb. She turned to stare out the window at the all-consuming darkness._

_Klaus watched her for a brief moment and then he too, was gone._

XoXoXo

Niklaus had been on a bender for nearly a month now - or so the gossip around the quarter went. Elijah had wanted to bring him home some weeks ago but had hesitated knowing that Klaus needed time; that it was best not to pressure him when he was this volatile. However, Elijah's patience now ran thin. His brother needed to be here. He needed to help – in Hayley's words – clean up the mess that had been made. How were they ever to reunite Hope with her family if nothing ever was decided or accomplished?

He heard the door slamming downstairs and the smell of his brother attacked his nostrils. Niklaus smelled like he had bathed in alcohol and blood. Likely, he had.

Elijah stood and went to meet Klaus as he stumbled into the room. "Niklaus-"

Klaus glared at Elijah through blurry eyes. "Don't you start with me. I am in no mood for your condemnations or worse, your pathetic platitudes. Just leave me to rot."

"I won't let you rot and I don't believe that is what you want either. After all, you came back here for a reason. Maybe you're finally ready to do what needs to be done."

Klaus weaved on his feet. Elijah was both shocked and saddened to see his brother falling apart this way. "I came back because I need a shower, Elijah. You smell me, don't you? I reek of booze, blood and broads."

"Niklaus, while you have been out painting the town red, I shall have you know that the mother of your child has been locked away in her room. She hasn't taken a step out of it – not since the night you came to tell us that the baby was safe with our sister. You made a promise that you would do whatever it took to reclaim your daughter and I mean to see that you keep your word."

"Don't test me, Elijah," Klaus said with a glower. "I simply need some time to-"

"There is no time to be wasted, Niklaus. I understand that you are grieving but every second you waste getting drunk and running around town with the local harlots, you are neglecting your duties as a man and most of all, as a father."

Klaus's hands shot out. He went to snap Elijah's neck but his movements were clumsy. Elijah easily sidestepped the assault on his person. He grabbed Klaus forcefully by either of his arms. "Look at yourself! Look at what you've become."

"Yes, look at me, Elijah! Look at me and judge me from your lofty pedestal as you wish but I assure you that you know nothing of my grief, nothing of my pain. That child – my child - was … Everything that was good and right in the world and without her, there is nothing but darkness. Do not pretend to understand my pain. Don't try to share it either. Until you've had your flesh and blood cruelly ripped from your arms, you cannot begin to comprehend what I am going through. I want to burn this city and everyone in it to the ground. You know, I might go ahead and do it. After all, it would only take one match to start a blaze."

"And all it would take is one spark of empathy and humanity for you to see that you don't suffer alone. Hayley is down the hall, Niklaus, suffering just as you do. Even more so. Think of this. Hope grew inside of Hayley for months and then Hope was torn from her body in a violent and vicious way. Hayley awoke not even as herself – but as a new species entirely, and then her baby had to be spirited away where she cannot touch her, cuddle her, suckle her… Niklaus, Hayley won't feed; she won't leave her room, she won't talk to anyone… I am afraid for her; deathly so."

Elijah sighed. "I know that if anyone understands the depth of your pain, it is she. Now I implore you – no, I _beg_ of you - to go to her and grieve with her, hold her hand, and then return here and help me figure out a way to rid this city of its pervading evil so we might have hope again, in every sense of the word."

"Don't you get it, Elijah? I am the evil which you speak of. Everything tragic, horrible and ugly thing that has happened here can be solidly laid at my feet."

"No more self-pity. I believe there is good in you, Niklaus. No, I _know_ there is. Please do not give up. If you do, you are betraying your daughter, hurting Hayley and most of all, killing yourself."

"I –" Klaus's eyes filled with shameful tears and he looked away. "What do you expect me to do? For the first time in my whole life, I don't have a plan; I don't have a clever counterattack in mind. I don't have a fucking clue as to how to fix this. I have not one diabolical trick up my sleeve to spin things in my favor."

"Then we'll have to figure this out together," Elijah said. "Now, Niklaus, I bid you to go to wash the stink off of you right now and then go to Hayley. She needs something sadly, that I cannot begin to give her."

"I can give her nothing."

Elijah nodded. "Yes, yes, you can."

Klaus finally nodded. "I don't know what you expect me to do but fine, Brother. Just – point me towards the bathroom again, why don't you?"

Elijah sighed and grasping Klaus by his shoulders, guided him in the right direction. Elijah then sighed and sat back down, determined to wait still more.

XOOOO

**Mystic Falls **

An incessant pounding awakened Matt Donovan from a deep sleep. He had been dreaming again – dreaming about a better time, a time when his sister was alive and his biggest concern was making the winning touchdown at the homecoming game. He had those dreams a lot. They haunted him; even more so than the reality of what his life had become.

The hammering continued. Someone was at the door. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Matt snapped. "Hold your horses." He rolled to a sitting position on the lumpy mattress. He scouted around for a pair of his trusty jeans and finding a pair stashed half-underneath the bed, he yanked them on. He looked at the alarm clock as he headed down the hall. _6:05 a.m._ It was his day off, his first chance to sleep in, in days, and someone was bothering him. Real fucking nice.

He reached the door and yanked it open. He was about to send his early caller away with a simple "piss off" but he was rendered completely speechless. On his doorstep stood none other than Rebekah Mikaelson. And she had a tiny baby in her arms.

"Hello, Matt," she said in that familiar, lilting voice of hers. "Won't you invite me in?"

"What – what is that?" He pointed to the sleeping infant in her embrace.

"Oh, Matt. Haven't you ever seen one of these before? It's a baby."

"Of course I have but … Where did you get it?"

"_Her._ And would you believe that a stork deposited her on my doorstep?"

"No, so why don't you explain yourself?"

"I'll try but first, let us in. How very crass of you to keep a woman and child outside to face the cruel elements."

Matt shook his head. "Something tells me that you're going to milk this – whatever this is - for all it's worth. But yeah, come on in."

"You're alone, right? I don't smell anyone else but one can never be too sure."

"I'm alone." Matt pushed back the screen door and beckoned her inside. He cleared a spot on the messy sofa that had seen better days. Rebekah lightly dropped down onto the cushion and began to rock the fussing baby.

"She's so beautiful, isn't she?" Rebekah murmured, stroking the little girl's alabaster cheek until she quieted.

"Yeah, but what are you doing with her?"

"I'm trying to protect her, Matt. And I need you to help me out in that effort."

"Maybe you should start from the beginning…"

"Maybe I shall," Rebekah agreed.

**To be continued. I hope you like all like it so far.**


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